As the value and use of information continues to increase, individuals and businesses seek additional ways to process and store information. One option available to users is information handling systems.
An information handling system generally processes, compiles, stores, and/or communicates information or data for business, personal, or other purposes thereby allowing users to take advantage of the value of the information.
Because technology and information handling needs and requirements vary between different users or applications, information handling systems may also vary regarding what information is handled, how the information is handled, how much information is processed, stored, or communicated, and how quickly and efficiently the information may be processed, stored, or communicated.
The variations in information handling systems allow for information handling systems to be general or configured for a specific user or specific use, such as financial transaction processing, airline reservations, enterprise data storage, or global communications. In addition, information handling systems may include a variety of hardware and software components that may be configured to process, store, and communicate information and may include one or more computer systems, data storage systems (which may be configured as a Storage Area Network (SAN)), and networking systems.
Information handling systems typically consist of a complex collection of many different devices, all integrated to perform the required functions of the system. Because of the wide range of functionality (e.g., computing, storage, switching, routing, etc.), the system components may be manufactured and distributed by several different vendors, each of which specializes in a particular aspect of the system.
This diversity of system component vendors can create problems with troubleshooting the system, when performance degrades or a failure occurs. Diagnostic capabilities that exist when using various components provide by a common vendor, may not be available when the connected components are procured from different companies.
Another difficulty that arises when troubleshooting such a complex system is a lack of overall system knowledge. Generally, no individual member of the technical maintenance team will have knowledge of all aspects of the system, sufficient to competently handle any problem that may arise.
Maintenance philosophies often rely on multiple technical teams, each of which focuses on a particular aspect of the system. For example, one technical team may specialize on network communications, while another technical team specializes on data storage, while yet another technical team has expertise in system control and management. The knowledge bases for various parts of the system may therefore be distributed across multiple technical groups.